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I also managed to emerge from the Bar Vocational Course (BVC) with a Very Competent. I have interesting, varied and practical work experience (such as investigating international electoral fraud and service in the police).

I don’t have pupillage.

I say all this so you, the potential Bar Vocational Course (BVC)ee, can decide whether I am qualified to dispense advice and if so, whether you should pay any attention to it whatsoever.

My first port of call is the statistics. Once grouped by a certain Prime Minister alongside lies and damned lies, most of the stories you will have heard concerning the depressing pupillage statistics are, unfortunately, true.

The last year with complete figures (2007/2008 and available on the Bar Council website) reveals that of the 2,864 applicants, 1,027 (or nearly 36%) did not take up their places.

Cynics may call them the lucky ones.

Of the 1,837 who did start the course, 1,720 (a whopping 94% of those who enrolled) passed. These figures are slightly higher than those from previous years, with 1,560 of 1,932 (81%) completing in 2006/2007 and 1,480 of 1,745 (85%) in 2005/2006.

The complete figures for 2008/2009 are not yet available, but there were 2,540 applicants (a substantial drop on all years from 2003/2004) and 1,749 enrolments (for the sake of completeness, 31% failed to obtain a place).

These figures mean nothing, however, without those relating to the available pupillages. There were four periods between October 2004 and September 2008 in which 1^st Six pupillages could have been registered with the Bar Council. All these periods have seen available pupillages in the low to mid 500s. 2005/2006 had the fewest available, with only 515; 2007/2008 the highest, with 561.

The average over the years is 540.  After subtracting those international students (by personal experience I would put this figure at around the 30% of total enrolments) who are not competing for English pupillages, but adding those students from previous years who are reapplying (I have no data for this, but I would reasonably assume it to be the majority of those who failed the previous year, with a steady decline as each year goes by), the raw (and very rough) odds of obtaining pupillage are around the 1/5 mark.

This somewhat depressing state of affairs took a drastic turn for the worse in the period October 2008 – June 2009, however, when only 340 1^st Six pupillages were registered.

The chances of obtaining pupillages have never looked so bleak.

What can be said about these statistics? Firstly, of course, things are never exactly what they first seem. Whilst the chances of obtaining pupillage – based solely upon number of students to number of places – may now be somewhere in the region of 1/8, it is an undeniable fact that a large minority of students are unsuited to the course (in that the struggle to pass) and, by extension, the Bar.

In crude terms, one could distinguish between those with Outstandings and Very Competents on one hand and Competents (and, of course, fails) on the other. As Simon Myerson QC, the author of the seminal blog ‘Pupillage and how to get it’ points out, your Bar Vocational Course (BVC) grade is only likely to help you if it is an Outstanding and hinder you if it is a Competent.

It seems that you are expected to attain a Very Competent as standard.  Anecdotal evidence would bear out this hypothesis, with only a handful of ‘Competent’ students obtaining pupillage. It is also undeniable that a number of students with Competents would make fine barristers, but such is the reality of academic marking that one may simply find themselves on the wrong side of that grade boundary.

What, then, should be done? Many suggest that anyone who has even a remote chance of obtaining pupillage should have the self-awareness to decide whether they in fact do, especially when there is so much literature available on the difficulty securing pupillage.

Whilst this is fair comment, it does ignore the fact that those without that ability to self-evaluate are exactly the sort who will start, possibly complete but never actually attain pupillage.  

I believe that certain applicants are encouraged to try for the bar – by the mere fact that they have achieved the bare academic minimum to be accepted onto the Bar Vocational Course (BVC) – when it is clear to almost everyone that they would be better doing almost anything else. As Derek Woods QC, who headed the Bar Standards Board working party on reforming the Bar Vocational Course (BVC) says: “There are students who simply would not meet the standards required to obtain pupillage, however many pupillages were on offer.”

It seems grossly objectionable to realistically offer nothing more than the title of ‘barrister’ in exchange for a year of one’s life and many, many thousands of pounds.

The introduction of the aptitude test is very welcome, as candidates who really have no hope would be sifted before having parted with at least £10,000 (when living costs are factored in, the minimum cost of the Bar Vocational Course (BVC) is in the region of £16,000, possibly as high as £22,000 in London). Unfortunately, the Office of Fair Trading has recently made noises about such a test being ‘unfair’ and has instead suggested a voluntary test be introduced – almost certainly failing to address the very issue in question.

If this somewhat depressing article has not dissuaded you from the Bar Vocational Course (BVC), Part 2 will go into the course in terms of content and the skills and expectations that I think one should have to not only pass with a ‘good’ result, but also to maybe even enjoy it a little bit.

Matthew D. Dawkins

12-09-2009